Best Thanksgiving side dish and why....

One large butternut squash, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Two large apples cored and cubed. Mix apples and squash in a large baking dish. Cut 1/2 cup brown sugar, two Tbs. flour, and a dash of cinnamon into 1/2 stick of softened butter. Crumble mixture over the apples and squash and bake covered for 1 hr at 350.

Very simple dish but it is a Thanksgiving tradition here.

Stealth_81
This will be attempted this year.

Steve
 
The dressing (NOT stuffing...). We continue my mother's recipe. Not really a recipe, but a method... Bulk sage sausage rendered with chopped onions. Broth from the neck and giblets added... Day old bread cubes... And some other top-secret stuff...

Food in general, especially during the holidays, allow us to continue to enjoy our loved ones who have passed like they are still here with us. When that dressing is made just right, you would swear my mom was in the kitchen herself, celebrating Thanksgiving with the rest of us.
 
One large butternut squash, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Two large apples cored and cubed. Mix apples and squash in a large baking dish. Cut 1/2 cup brown sugar, two Tbs. flour, and a dash of cinnamon into 1/2 stick of softened butter. Crumble mixture over the apples and squash and bake covered for 1 hr at 350.

Very simple dish but it is a Thanksgiving tradition here.

Stealth_81
Yup, this is happening.
 
Ha
One large butternut squash, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Two large apples cored and cubed. Mix apples and squash in a large baking dish. Cut 1/2 cup brown sugar, two Tbs. flour, and a dash of cinnamon into 1/2 stick of softened butter. Crumble mixture over the apples and squash and bake covered for 1 hr at 350.

Very simple dish but it is a Thanksgiving tradition here.

Stealth_81
This sounds dee-lish! Going to try this out soon. DW does a butternut squash soup, that is great on fall days.
 
I am mostly a gravy guy, on the spuds, turkey, dressing, etc. Must be chunky gravy, with neck meat and heart finely chopped, no liver or kidneys.

But I did make a glazed balsamic, garlic, and pancetta brussel sprouts dish a few years ago that was spectacular.

Was even better the second day after the flavors bonded.
I'm with you on the gravy! I always make plenty so there's enough for leftovers the rest of the next week.

The neck goes into a broth i use as the base for stuffing, the heart liver and kidneys get pan fried and added to stuffing.
 
OOOh, last year I tried and successfully made mile-high popovers in lieu of traditional rolls. They were much easier than anticipated and the perfect vessel for sopping up excess gravy. They were amazing. I didn't even need to invest in a popover pan, oversized muffin tin did the trick. That British staple has made it's way onto this year's menu.
Yorkshire Pudding! When I was growing up it was served for all 3 courses. Just with gravy as an appetizer, then with your entree and again for desert covered in butter and sugar!!

DW grew up in Canada and loves to serve Yorkshire pudding whenever we do roast beef. They are the best for gravy!

I recall an oven fire incident many years ago when making them. Oil spilled out of the muffin pan and inside of the oven basically burst into flames. First and only time using fire extinguisher in the kitchen, what a mess.
 
Due to COVID/Army ROM, we have cancelled the holidays this year (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years). This thread is reminding me that, last Thanksgiving after reviewing all the leftovers, we decided to scrap our traditional meal and order a smoked brisket from an amazing new BBQ shop in town instead. I guess we won’t even be doing that now. But here’s what generally happens at our house. We have a wild cooking party the night before T-day; DH, our son, my mom, and myself are all foodies and home chefs, and we have a huge professional kitchen. I make a large pot of clam chowder in the early afternoon, then we put on our white jackets, crank up the music, distribute the decades-old recipe cards, open the champagne, and get busy with the culinary ballet, gliding past each other as we chop, blend, toss, sauté, mix, grill, crimp, pour, bake, stuff, roast, mash, stir, etc. We basically make the entire meal the night before (so T-day is stress free) all the while dipping into the chowder and champagne. It’s the best day/night of the year. However, viewing the spoils after the grand meal the next day, we realize, once again, that almost no one likes yams or squash of any kind, so the pumpkin pie is missing only a slice, the acorn squash was eaten only by my mom, DH makes the Waldorf Salad for himself only and he hates turkey, I refuse to eat cranberry sauce, syrup, marshmallows or anything that has touched a marshmallow or syrup, and the rest of the party picks and chooses as well. Almost no one really likes turkey no matter how amazing and picture-perfect that grilled, smoked bird is. All are well-fed, but it’s a meal made up of individual favorites, no one likes the entire meal. It seems such a waste.

DH and I haven’t nailed down what we’re going to do this year as it will just be the two of us, but I think we’ll end up with smoked brisket, garlic-mashed potatoes, rosemary popovers, that frightening broccoli-cheese dish, apple pie and, of course, lots of wine, champagne, and jazz. Our son usually makes Beef Wellington and Yorkshire pudding for us for Christmas, but he says that unless General Order #1 is revised to allow him to travel from GA to AZ without quarantine, that and NYE aren’t going to happen either. Here’s to 2021—has to be better, right?
 
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Last year DH wanted to smoke a 17 pound bird. I was doubtful about how it would turn out. He tends to make things smokier than I like. So, as a backup I did a 12 pound bird in the house. I brined it in an herb-citrus, vermouth mixture for 24 hours. Then I spatchcock style oven roasted it after putting herb butter under the skin. It was the best turkey to date. DH managed to pull off a very well cooked bird, but mine was so moist. And that spatchcock method means the breast and thigh are moist and you cut hours off of the cook time leaving more room for those delish sides.
 
Due to COVID/Army ROM, we have cancelled the holidays this year (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years). This thread is reminding me that, last Thanksgiving after reviewing all the leftovers, we decided to scrap our traditional meal and order a smoked brisket from an amazing new BBQ shop in town instead. I guess we won’t even be doing that now. But here’s what generally happens at our house. We have a wild cooking party the night before T-day; DH, our son, my mom, and myself are all foodies and home chefs, and we have a huge professional kitchen. I make a large pot of clam chowder in the early afternoon, then we put on our white jackets, crank up the music, distribute the decades-old recipe cards, open the champagne, and get busy with the culinary ballet, gliding past each other as we chop, blend, toss, sauté, mix, grill, crimp, pour, bake, stuff, roast, mash, stir, etc. We basically make the entire meal the night before (so T-day is stress free) all the while dipping into the chowder and champagne. It’s the best day/night of the year. However, viewing the spoils after the grand meal the next day, we realize, once again, that almost no one likes yams or squash of any kind, so the pumpkin pie is missing only a slice, the acorn squash was eaten only by my mom, DH makes the Waldorf Salad for himself only and he hates turkey, I refuse to eat cranberry sauce, syrup, marshmallows or anything that has touched a marshmallow or syrup, and the rest of the party picks and chooses as well. Almost no one really likes turkey no matter how amazing and picture-perfect that grilled, smoked bird is. All are well-fed, but it’s a meal made up of individual favorites, no one likes the entire meal. It seems such a waste.

DH and I haven’t nailed down what we’re going to do this year as it will just be the two of us, but I think we’ll end up with smoked brisket, garlic-mashed potatoes, rosemary popovers, that frightening broccoli-cheese dish, apple pie and, of course, lots of wine, champagne, and jazz. Our son usually makes Beef Wellington and Yorkshire pudding for us for Christmas, but he says that unless General Order #1 is revised to allow him to travel from GA to AZ without quarantine, that and NYE aren’t going to happen either. Here’s to 2021—has to be better, right?
I think I want to come to your house for this amazing pre turkey day pregame experience!
 
Sweet Potato Casserole...
Mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, evaporated milk (kind of like making a pumpkin pie, but less liquidy) and a topping made from butter, dark brown sugar and chopped walnuts. DW got it from a friend at work 20 or so years ago and it's been a staple at our Thanksgiving table ever since. We passed the recipe down to DD this past year for a Friendsgiving she and DSIL hosted and all those young 20 somethings raved about it!

Try toasted pecans instead of walnuts and you'll be an even bigger star. This has been a go-to for years at my house.
 
I totally agreed with you. But then, after my 15th birthday, I grew to accept it and now, its not an issue.
A couple of years ago, we stopped boiling/steaming our broc and started roasting it. Toss with olive oil, salt and
throw it in the oven.

Pretty pretty pretty good.

Another variation is tossing that in panko bread crumbs, garlic powder and parmesan cheese before roasting. It's gets a very light crust with a bunch of flavor. To be honest you could toss kibble in that stuff and it would rock, but we've only gone so far as to do the less favorites (broccoli, cauliflower).
 
Try toasted pecans instead of walnuts and you'll be an even bigger star. This has been a go-to for years at my house.
The wife always uses pecans in everything instead of walnuts. Guess it comes from having several pecan trees back on the farm before Fran took a few out. They referred to roasted pecans as 'parched' pecans.

For the holidays DMIL always parched some pecans with some brown sugar on them. They didn't last long.
 
The nut discussion reminded me my mom used to break out her cast iron nut-roasting pan in October. Growing up in GA, pecans were plentiful. We had sacks of them. In the evenings, Dad would start the process by doing the cracking and major shell picking. I would fill my bowl from his, and prise out the whole halves for one bowl, pieces for baking for another, and discarded ones for another. Mom did the final clean up with her nut picks, ensuring no shells or bitter parts got into the final batch. They would then go into the freezer if not immediately used.

She would use her nut roaster to make sweet cinnamon and spice nuts, spicy hot (cayenne) and sweet nuts, honey salty nuts, maple sugar nuts. Guess who got to stir, endlessly, while mom monitored heat, spice, and the magic “they’re done” moment. When spread out to cool, my job was then to gather up in ornamental cans or little baggies tied with bows, for gifts. I also ate plenty, as did my Dad. 😁
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Sweet Potato Casserole...
Mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, evaporated milk (kind of like making a pumpkin pie, but less liquidy) and a topping made from butter, dark brown sugar and chopped walnuts. DW got it from a friend at work 20 or so years ago and it's been a staple at our Thanksgiving table ever since. We passed the recipe down to DD this past year for a Friendsgiving she and DSIL hosted and all those young 20 somethings raved about it!
Got my sweet potato recipe out of DW’s church cookbook. Messed it up the first year and it turned out to be everyone’s fav dessert. Now I have to “mess it up” every year. Btw, it comes out of the oven and into the fridge overnight. Served cold right before the pies.
 
The nut discussion reminded me my mom used to break out her cast iron nut-roasting pan in October. Growing up in GA, pecans were plentiful. We had sacks of them. In the evenings, Dad would start the process by doing the cracking and major shell picking. I would fill my bowl from his, and prise out the whole halves for one bowl, pieces for baking for another, and discarded ones for another. Mom did the final clean up with her nut picks, ensuring no shells or bitter parts got into the final batch. They would then go into the freezer if not immediately used.

She would use her nut roaster to make sweet cinnamon and spice nuts, spicy hot (cayenne) and sweet nuts, honey salty nuts, maple sugar nuts. Guess who got to stir, endlessly, while mom monitored heat, spice, and the magic “they’re done” moment. When spread out to cool, my job was then to gather up in ornamental cans or little baggies tied with bows, for gifts. I also ate plenty, as did my Dad. 😁
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I grew up living on a walnut orchard. Every year at harvest my dad would have the processing plant set aside 300 pounds of walnuts after they were washed and dehydrated in the shells. Then, my sister and I would be tasked with decorating brown, saved paper grocery bags. We broke out that 64 color Crayola box and drew winter and Christmas scenes all over the bags. Then we weighed 10 pounds of walnuts into each bag, rolled the tops down, and taped them. Those were the gifts for friends and family each Christmas. We delivered them each year,600 miles to San Diego, where we spent Christmas with family. When I was a kid I thought it was weird. Now, my foodie self is jealous, and wishes my parents still had the orchard. Walnuts are expensive! Sadly, I am now allergic to all nuts.....but I digress.
 
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I recognize this is a Side Dish thread, but I am publicly admitting my Thanksgiving menu heresy here, because, hey, it’s 2020 and The COVID Era.

I realized with just two of us this year, most of the holiday fun came with a traditional menu and family contributions of new and old versions of favorites. As I pulled a warm fresh pumpkin pie out of the oven last weekend and waved it toward DH, I floated the idea of ditching a traditional menu until we could all be together again, and doing an over-the-top meal just for us. He was all in, especially since he was getting a pumpkin pie all his own at that very minute.

The menu, to which you are all virtually invited with my wishes you are enjoying something good today:

Hot Cranberry Roasted Pineapple Jalapeño Salsa, pita chips (the one thing I always make, as mentioned in a previous post)

Prime, restaurant-grade bone-in ribeye beef roast (pic attached)
Roasted Wild Mushroom Jus
Yorkshire Pudding
Roasted Green Beans and Red Bell Pepper Salad, Balsamic Vinaigrette
Pecan Pie Brownies
2009 Rioja Reserve, 97 point
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Our family tradition at Christmas is always to have the cold meat that is left over from the Christmas Day dinner along with proper English style chips and pickles. As our youngest is still at NAPS this year and our eldest has been working we decided to do the same for our Thanksgiving meal. So I cooked half a turkey and the stuffing yesterday and the chips are in the fryer as I speak!
 
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